Musings from domesticity, creativity and motherhood.

01 March 2011

Life affirming baking

You guys are the greatest cheer squad imaginable - thanks so much for all the kind thoughts on my baking exploits! So I just had to stop by this evening and share all the gossip with you - it was such fun - I had completed all the baking yesterday, so there was no pressure at all and I was determined to enjoy the experience.

And it was fantastic. I got to plate up my chicken, sage and pancetta palm pies and slice my marmalade loaf cake, served with greek yoghurt, candied peel and blood oranges in caramel. And then my food was whisked off, with me trailing in it's wake, to meet Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood.

And they were lovely - so amiable and keen to put me at ease (quite important, given the somewhat daunting presence of a film crew in the room). Mary had the air of the health visitor about her - immediately friendly, but you get a sense that she knows her stuff and wouldn't hesitate to tell you in the nicest possible way, if you were not doing things right. Or perhaps it's just that she told me twice that I was doing a good job bringing up my children. And Paul - well, quite frankly he could say whatever he liked as long as I could enjoy his twinkly blue eyes - swoon.

They said my pastry was very good (hooray!) although Paul thought I could have added cream to my pie filling to bring all the flavours together - I'm going to try that next time. And Mary said I had done an excellent job with the cake as it is apparently very hard to bake with marmalade without the cake sinking in the middle (good thing I didn't know that or I may have worried). Paul thought the cake was a bit on the dry side but Mary lept to my defence, disagreeing with him and saying it had a perfect Madeira texture. I get the impression those two quite like to disagree!

And then we had a bit of a chat about choux pastry followed by me shooting myself in the foot by admitting that I do not bake a great deal of bread. The simple truth is, I can buy excellent bread from an artisan baker made less than 5 miles from my front door and it has made me lazy. I'd rather spend my kitchen time making something that I couldn't buy as good a version of.

Which is truthful, but perhaps not a terribly well judged admission when you are auditioning for a place in a baking competition, when one of the judges owns an artisan bread company and believes baking is synonymous with bread.

But as I waited for the verdict, contemplating the challenges of the next phase of the competition, I have to admit, I was daunted. So when they told me I hadn't made it through to the last 60, I wasn't surprised and, if truth be told, a teeny bit relieved. Because it's pretty high pressure, this competitive cooking business.

And tomorrow, when I am back to the day job of being CEO of my own kitchen, I will smile to myself a little bit. Because I am still really glad to have applied - today goes down as one of my very finest cooking adventures. And if ever I am asked the question again "What is your greatest baking achievement?" I can reply that Mary Berry and Paul Hollywood say my pastry is very good.

And perhaps I might invest in that Artisan Bread book Rebecca was recommending...

You are amazing! I was thinking of you all day yesterday. I'm so impressed you made it all the way to the semis. Just think how many applications they must have received. Will you share your palm pie recipe? They look fabulous!

What a fabulous experience and one that I'm sure you'll never forget. Get to know your dough hook and I'd recommend the River Cottage bread handbook. Although I do confess the 5 minute bread is on my wish list too!

Oh no! Oh well, at least you got yourself a nice mixer out of it!! And I can imagine it must have been good fun to take part - I'd never have applied myself, I hate all stress and competitiveness in the kitchen!

I was thinking of you yesterday - wondering how you were doing and my thought flags were waving furiously. You've made me hungry too - I love the sound of those palm pies. I think I may have been a little relieved too - it does sound pressured - I wonder whether the camera would have taken away some of the enjoyment. It's so wonderful that you entereed and got so far down the line. There must have been tens of THOUSANDS of entries. Sheesh.

Those recipes sound like absolute winners to me and I'm so pleased the judges approved. It must have felt like a lovely compliment to your culinary skills even if you didn't make it through to the next round.

Well done Ali - your pies looked wonderful and the cake sounded delicious (and highly complicated to make if you ask me!). I did wonder how you were getting on yesterday and well done for getting so far, what an exciting adventure xx

Wow! Sounds like a really fun experience -- if not VERY nerve-wracking! Do you have a link where those of us not in your fair country could have a gander -- I'd love to be able to view it. (Ok, just to listen to your accents would do it for me -- forget those blue eyes LOL!) Congratulations on all that effort AND success!!!

I think you did so well to get so far and to have such high compliments for your pastry and marmalade loaf. I am sure that you definitely got the fun end of it too, just as you said. More pressure in the later rounds could have made it a lot less enjoyable.

O Ali, the thrill of it all, you tell the story perfectly. I am a little sad that I won't be seeing you on the screen, this time, but you are top of my cool list for getting to the point of baking go Mary & Paul and "good pastry" is something some of us will never achieve.

What an adventure, it must have been quite pressurised baking in a competitve environment but Paul Hollywood looks delicious...........I mean your pies look delicious! Congratulations on having done so well.x

wow-well done Ali, you must be delighted! what a brilliant achievement and experience, certainly something to go on your 'Cool things I did in 2011' list! Your palm pies sound delicious, my mouth is watering! you will no doubt enjoy the series when it airs all the more for having taken a small part in proceedings-you were far braver than I could have been!

Well done Ali, sounds like you had a great time and what a lovely complement to come away with. Definitely a super experience to have had and now you can sit back and relax with a glass of wine and watch the people who make it through sweat and swear and generally get very hot under the collar as competition unfolds and probably be a little bit glad that you're not there under the studio lights!

Hiya, I'm one of those people who read a blog but don't always comment, but I really wanted to say it was quite inspiring what you did, havingthe confidence to actually do it and not just talk about it. And to meet Mary Berry too! I swear by her cake book and completely imagined her as an efficent health visitor!

Well done! Just reading about it all made me feel slightly nervous. I don't think I could cope cooking under pressure like that. Funnily enough I've just bought a copy of the book that came out after the first series, and I've been writing up a little piece about it. I wasn't that taken with the show at first and then, very suddenly, I was completely gripped!